SAXON WARRIOR COOLMORE PRIX SAINT-ALARY (GROUP 1)
‘SHE’S won but I am a bit underwhelmed.’
Alain de Royer- Dupré’s words after saddling Siyarafina to victory in the Coolmore Saxon Warrior Prix Saint-Alary at ParisLongchamp last Sunday constitute one of the more unusual reactions to sending out a Group 1 winner.
It’s not as if Royer-Dupré has been churning out showpiece triumphs with monotonous regularity of late. He may be a hugely respected handler with 47 seasons with a licence and approaching 100 top-level successes to his name, but the 74-year-old had not won a Group 1 for almost two years.
And Siyarafina’s success could not in any way have been deemed fortunate or unconvincing – she beat her 10 rivals by a length while barely being touched by jockey Christophe Soumillon’s whip.
So a measured analysis of his reaction is to conclude that Royer-Dupr émust believe that his daughter of Pivotal, now unbeaten in three lifetime starts, is not just capable of winning Group 1s but of taking her opposition apart in such contests. High esteem indeed from a trainer who has overseen the careers of the likes of Zarkava, Darshaan and Dalakhani.
Reputation
The Saint-Alary may have been Siyarafina’s stakes race debut, but her reputation was already sky high given that this Aga Khan-owned and -bred filly had already brushed aside Commes in the Prix du Louvre, and that victim had since suffered an incredibly narrow reverse in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches. The third home in the Louvre, Noor Sahara, had subsequently registered an easy listed race victory.
Sent off the 7/10 favourite, Siyarafina comfortably disposed of the 49/1 chance, Olendon, with the third-place finisher from the Pouliches, Imperial Charm, giving the form some substance by again grabbing the minor place berth.
Yet her trainer was unfulfilled. “I was expecting a bit more,” Royer-Dupré added. “Her action was a little less fluid than we have seen with her previously and though I thought I had got her ready, maybe she was less fit than I imagined.
“She hadn’t been going so well in the mornings, then she seemed to get better again, but her last run was four weeks ago.
“This was her first time over a mile and a quarter and she showed that she stays, even if they didn’t go quickly, but she was slightly keen, the extra trip puts more strain on them and she was having a good blow afterwards.
“The Prix de Diane is three weeks away now, which is ideal timing and, providing everything goes well, that’s where she’ll head.”
Soumillon agreed, saying: “Today Siyarafina didn’t quicken up a second time like she has before. She’s been working better over the last few days but she’s still some way off 100%.”
Last year’s Saint-Alary was won by Laurens, a daughter of Siyouni who went on to land three further Group 1s, including the Diane. Now Siyarafina, whose dam, the Group 2-placed Siyenica, is a half-sister to Siyouni, will attempt to complete the double. Siyarafina’s main rival in the Diane is set to be Hermosa.
PRIX D’ISPAHAN (GROUP 1)
WHILE Siyarafina landed a Group 1 just seven weeks after her racecourse debut, it has taken a little longer for Zabeel Prince, winner of Sunday’s other ParisLongchamp feature, the Prix d’Ispahan.
This gelded son of Lope De Vega didn’t even lose his maiden tag until the June of his four-year-old season and it is only now, at the age of six, that he has finally proved himself among Europe’s finest thoroughbreds.
So huge kudos is due to his Dubaian owner, Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, and British trainer, Roger Varian, for their patience. Minor injuries and immaturity have restricted him to no more than four outings in any season, but the underlying talent has always been there.
This win, following his defeat of two high-class rivals in Forest Ranger and Mustashry in last month’s Earl Of Sefton Stakes, elevates him to the big league.
Zabeel Prince (Andrea Atzeni, yellow) was a deserved winner of the Group 1 Prix d’Ispahan \ focusonracing.com
Strong field
The d’Ispahan attracted a strong field and as expected saw Knight To Behold cut out the early pace.
His jockey, Oisin Murphy, slowed the tempo with half a mile to run, creating something of a traffic jam in behind, but there were no real hard luck stories as Zabeel Prince advanced from midfield to hit the front at the furlong marker and hold Study Of Man by three-quarters of a length. The 2018 third, Trais Fluors, taking the same position 12 months on, was another three-quarters a length adrift.
Winning rider Andrea Atzeni said: “We didn’t go very fast but he’s done it nicely. The patient approach has been rewarded because this horse has never been in better shape.”
Both this race and the Earl Of Sefton are run at the intermediate distance of nine furlongs, and Atzeni’s initial reaction was that Zabeel Prince would be suited to a step up to a mile and a quarter.
However, he is entered in both the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, over that trip, and the Queen Anne Stakes, over a mile, at Royal Ascot, and Varian is keen to keep both options open.
On the up
Study Of Man ended his Prix du Jockey-Club-winning 2018 season on a downward curve but is clearly back on the up now, having grabbed second in both this and the Prix Ganay.
His trainer, Pascal Bary, reckons that he is fully effective at both eight and 10 furlongs.
Given that he is owned and bred by the race sponsors, the Niarchos Family, it would be no surprise if he were given time to recover and held back for the Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville in mid-August, a race which the Niarchos team won so brilliantly last year with Alpha Centauri.
Trais Fluors’s future could include a certain amount of transatlantic travel, and Intellogent, another three-year-old Group 1 winner from last season, bounced back to form in first-time sheepskin cheekpieces to be beaten less than two lengths in fourth.
Called To The Bar is in line for a tilt at the Gold Cup at Ascot following his clear-cut three-length victory in the final qualifying race for the Weatherbys Hamilton Stayers Million, Sunday’s Group 2 Prix Vicomtesse Vigier.
Yet, although Called To The Bar was much the best horse on the day, it may pay to treat the form with a good deal of caution. The trainers of both the placed horses described it as a ‘bizarre’ contest and the pace appeared to be very stop-start – six of the 11 runners took a turn, however brief, in front, and at one stage down the far side the field was spread across the entire expanse of the track.
Churlish
It would, however, be churlish to suggest that Called To The Bar did not deserve this moment in the spotlight. Right from the moment he bumped into the multiple Group 1 winner Waldgeist on his debut in a maiden back in 2016, this son of Henrythenavigator, homebred by owner Sven Hanson, has never finished out of the first four in 14 career starts, which have included visits to Dubai and New York.
Of late he has developed a tremendous rivalry with Holdthasigreen, who beat him by three-quarters of a length in last autumn’s Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak. This victory, with an off-colour Holdthasigreen beaten seven lengths in fifth, brought the score between the pair to three-two in Called To The Bar’s favour. His trainer, Pia Brandt, said: “We’ve only ridden him out the back once before, that was last year, but it’s worked out perfectly.
“Last time out, when he was beaten by Holdthasigreen and Way To Paris in the Prix de Barbeville, we had him too fresh and he used up too much energy during the race.
“Now he will be able to go to the Ascot Gold Cup with renewed confidence. He’s showed his class over shorter trips, he’s won a Group 3 over a mile and a half and been second in a mile and a quarter Group 1, and he’s got a real turn of foot as his split times for the last five furlongs are always under one minute, which is pretty unusual for a stayer.
“The million pound bonus has always been in the back of our minds but we’ll just wait and see what happens at Ascot before we start thinking about that.”
Second home, Way To Paris, will miss Ascot and likely wait for the Prix du Cadran in the autumn in the hope of getting more cut in the ground.
Freddy Head was trying to remain upbeat about the showing of Call The Wind in third, saying: “It was and odd race and don’t forget we were giving the winner 4lbs.”
CONNECTIONS of both Siyarafina and Called To The Bar had begun the card by landing maiden races with other homebred animals. The performance of Brandt’s Astonished in getting off the mark at the fourth time of asking in the Prix de Verneuil was unremarkable but the four-length triumph of the Royer-Dupré -trained Zarkallani in the Prix Viroflay was much more eye-catching, not just because he came from last to first to win by four lengths. Zarkallani is by Invincible Spirit out of the unbeaten 2008 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe heroine, Zarkava. He goes in the Prix du Jockey Club tomorrow.
THE Prix du Lys was the first of four pattern events on Sunday’s card, a five-runner contest for three-year-olds over a mile and a half. The outcome provided succour to the beleaguered current crop of German classic colts, reeling from the result of the German 2000 Guineas which saw overseas challengers fill the first seven places. Here, the Sarah Steinberg-trained German raider, Quest The Moon, turned the tables in registering a dominant two-and-a-half-length success over French and British opposition to vault to the head of ante-post betting lists for the Deutsches Derby.
INTERESTING news of another German three-year-old, this time the Soldier Hollow filly Amarena, who is likely to be one of Siyarafina’s chief rivals in the Prix de Diane at Chantilly on June 16th.
An impressive winner of the Listed Prix de la Seine at Longchamp in early May, she has been sold to Japanese owner Masaaki Matsushima and will have her first start for new trainer Satoshi Kobayashi in the Diane having left the yard of Henk Grewe.
EVERYTHING else that happened in France last weekend paled into insignificance on hearing the news that jockey Romane Brizard had died following the injuries she sustained in a four-horse pile-up in a flat race at Blain-Bouvron-Le Gavre, near Nantes, on Sunday afternoon.
Despite being airlifted to hospital, the 21-year-old, who had notched six wins from 92 career starts, never regained consciousness.
The remaining three races on the card were abandoned.